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Manhattan Project Research Paper

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Intro/Thesis:
The news we hear today about nuclear weapons, ranging from the Iran Nuclear Deal to the North Korean bomb tests all stem from the secret project led by the United States during World War 2. The Manhattan Project, which started in 1942 lasting until 1946, saw the creation of two atomic bombs which would explode in Japan, ending World War 2 but more importantly changing the world forever (“Manhattan Project”). As the death tolls continued to climb upwards during the World War 2, so did the significance and urgency of the project. Since the day when the bomb ‘Little Boy’ and ‘Fat Man’ fell towards Japan, the end it put on World War 2, the destruction it wreaked, the role it has in international politics, and its contribution to science …show more content…

Not too long after the beginning of the project, a breakthrough occurred in the winter of 1942 (Rhodes). The physicists led by Fermi produced the world’s first controlled Nuclear Chain Reaction at the Stagg Field in the University of Chicago ("The Manhattan Project."). Encouraged by the results and progress, the U.S. government funded the project and endless progress resulted (Rhodes). Robert Oppenheimer, an American theoretical Physicist, was given the task of designing the bomb in Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico ("The Manhattan Project"). Responsible for the aforementioned designing and further research, Oppenheimer is accredited as the “father of the atomic bomb” (Rhodes). The total cost of the project would be more than $26.8 billion (inflation adjusted) and employ more than 130,000 Americans. The world had now been introduced to its new age: the nuclear …show more content…

The legacy of the Manhattan Project, like the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and more are at the vanguard of space travel, computing, and energy (Palmer). Additionally, the compartmentalization and secrecy measures were taken by Leslie Groves, the leader of the Manhattan Project, is an essential structure in the CIA and the NSA for the national security of the United States (Palmer). Even for the worse, nuclear weapons exist in the world today which put the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to shame. For example, Castle Bravo, a dry fuel hydrogen bomb exploded in the Marshall Islands was the equivalent of 15,000 kilotons of TNT, whereas the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a “mere” 20 kilotons of TNT (Palmer). While the effects of the existence of such catastrophic weapons are not that of positives, its presence cannot be forgotten, lending to how significant the Manhattan Project has been then, and even more so

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